INTROVERT AND EXTRAVERT.*
THE present volume, which has recently been added to that excellent series, "The International Library of Psychology, Philosophy and Scientific Method," is a translation by Dr. H. Godwin Baynes of Jung's most important work. In it Jung constructs out of his conception of human psychology— namely, his theory of the two fundamental classes of Extra- verts and Introverts—an inclusive philosophical system. The result is a book which contains, as was to be expected, a mass of valuable and interesting information and also a great deal of highly debatable matter ; and the impression which the book leaves is that, although as a theoretical principle for the guidance of the practical analyst the Extraversion- Introversion theory is of considerable value, yet it leads, when used in a wider and more general application, to inexactitude and confusion. It is, in fact, its essentially theoretical nature that makes it so useful in concrete cases and so dangerous in abstract argument, for theory unchecked by practice and practice unchecked by theory equally end in disaster. Now, the Extraversion-Introversion idea (as Jung himself fully admits) is not a practical idea. The complete extravert and the complete introvert are each, like Mrs. Betsy Harris, a creature that never was on land or sea ; indeed, it is only by virtue of being both that a man is psychically, mentally and physically coherent. But no man is both in an equal degree, and, as he leans too far towards one or the other, pathological symptoms display themselves. The terms, then, simply provide useful pigeonholes in which to classify a large number of typical qualities : they serve as a useful guide and reference to the practical analyst, but if we are to apply them to such a Eubject, for instance, as aesthetics, we must constantly bear in mind that we are theorizing upon theoretical ideas and not upon facts, and that our resultant theories, however unassail- able in themselves, must stand or fall with the ideas upon which they are based. It is obvious from his !atroduction that Dr. Jung, when he began to extend the application of his • Psychological 2'aves. BY C. B. Jung. London: liegan Paul. less. net.]
theory, soon discovered its lack of elasticity and was come pelled to modify it. "In two former communications con- cerning psychological types," he writes in the Introduction to the present work,
"I did not carry out the distinction outlined above, but identified the thinking type with the introvert, and the feeling type with the extravert. A deeper elaboration of the problem proved this combination to be untenable."
In consequence of this discovery, Dr. Jung now lays down certain basic functions which characterize types that may occur either in the extravert or the introvert class.
"As basic functions, i.e., functions which are both genuinely as well as essentially differentiated from other functions, there exist thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuition. If one of these functions habitually prevails, a corresponding type results. . . . Every one of these types can, moreover, be introverted or extraverted, according to his relation to the object . . ."
Now, this modification of the theory simply subdivides each of the main Introvert and Extravert pigeonholes into !bur, and so it becomes incumbent on Dr. Jung to define all of his eight new classes which result, and as we follow his careful and painstaking definitions the doubt begins to assail us whether a distinction which requires such modification and, when modified, results in such elaboration, is not, for general puro poses, fundamentally inappropriate. Will not Introvert and Extravert, when they have been sufficiently expanded and qualified to meet all the requirements of so wide an applica- tion, be found to have dissolved into smoke ?
Dr. Jung's method of illustrating his theory is to apply it either to certain schools of thought or to a single specific thinker, as, for instance, to types of Classical and Mediaeval thought, or to certain theories of Schiller and Nietzsche. It is regrettable that, in the chapter on typical attitudes in aesthetics, he confines almost all his attention to Worringer's Abstraktion und Einfilkling, whose theories, while they offer
considerable support to Dr. Jung's, appear to us extremely questionable.
In the case of philosophical works it is often possible to gain much from a book by whose principle thesis we are not convinced, and Psychological Types is full of interesting and valuable material. One of the most interesting chapters in the book is that on "The Type Problem in Poetry." In it Dr. Jung has much to say on Symbolism and the varying extent to which poets are aware of the significance of the symbols which they create, and he also discusses very interest- ingly the nature and function of the symbol itself. Throughout the book is scattered an abundance of valuable facts and theories which only a psychologist of Dr. Jung's wide expe- rience and high qualifications is in a position to give. It is an important work, and we are glad that it has been made accessible to English readers in the present excellent series.
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